The Girl's Guide to Biking and Baking: LUCA Sunscreen Review
Sunday, May 13, 2007
The Girl's Guide to Biking and Baking: LUCA Sunscreen Review

Sunday, May 13, 2007

I wouldn't qualify myself as athletic. Yet every once in a while, I get a hankering to drain myself of every stitch of pent-up energy with a mad dash on my bike through the desert (see previous attempts). This time, I had a mission. Well, two really. One was to ride fast enough that should I come across a dozing rattlesnake, I would skate past him before he had the wits to strike. Snake bites can so ruin a perfectly good day. The second was to test a new sunscreen that purports to be the best UVA/UVB protection available. LUCA Intense Solar Protection SPF 30 is water resistant, hypoallergenic and able to make that claim because of its high critical wavelength rating. Critical wavelength is the UVA protection rating. UVA exposure is the major cause of premature aging and is strongly linked to skin cancer. LUCA far supersedes the FDA's levels of excellent protection and because of its unique formulation, can withstand six hours of intense sunlight. But can it withstand my tyrannical dash through the desert?

LUCA Sunscreen comes in a pump dispenser that easily locks for travel. The lotion is subtly scented and although thick and intensely white like many sun blocks, it blends transparently into the skin leaving it moist to the touch. Not a cloud marred the brilliant sky and the day would likely top out at a 100 degrees as I hopped on my yellow Cannondale and pushed off through the neighborhood. Mile one and I was failing fast (did I mention that I wasn't very athletic?). Thoughts of what to eat when I got home danced through my head. Three miles down, one snake sighting and I was more than breaking a sweat. Five miles and I'd obviously reached a state of delirium because thoughts of food morphed into actually considering lifting free weights when I got home. Preposterous. And yes, the lyrics of that Susan Vega song, "My Name is Luca," keep rolling through my head too. Funny thing is, no stinging sweat in my eyes and no chemical taste in my mouth. And when I reached the safety of home, not only was my face NOT bright red but the signs of a sunburn didn't develop later in the day as they usually do with my regular sun block. This stuff rocked. I may actually ride my bike again soon if I can get through an Arizona summer minus another freckle. LUCA Sunscreen was easy to integrate into my daily regimen and is also available in Daily SPF 15. Both formulations retail for $30 and are available at LucaSunscreen.com.

LUCA To The Rescue
Pathologically Cooking Oneself With Ultraviolet Rays
Thursday, April 13, 2006

Dangerous ultraviolet rays (UVA and UVB) from the sun will not hurt as long as we stay out of the sun between noon and 3:00PM, right? Wrong. If UV rays at sunrise or sunset can reach the skin, they are doing as much damage in some respects as if it were noon.

Serious disease or death resulting from too much direct exposure to sunlight is practically a certainty. Enter sunscreen.

Dr. Karl Gruber, a pathologist in Charleston, South Carolina applied sunscreen to his two-year-old son, Luca, who soon complained of burning and stinging around his eyes and irritation to his skin. How were Dr. Gruber and his wife, Georgia, supposed to take a child to the beach or even outdoors without applying sunscreen protection. He had only to look at his son’s fair and seriously irritated skin to realize that he had a problem. What do sunscreens contain that causes people with sensitive skin to become irritated?

He and Georgia developed LUCA to provide for their children, Elise and Luca, a sunscreen that was both non-irritating and which would provide the best UVA coverage available. Before LUCA, the Grubers tried numerous products from local supermarkets to high-end spas; nothing seemed to work. Desperate and exasperated, they took matters into their own hands and teamed up with one of the most talented and experienced cosmetic chemist in the country. After testing numerous formulations on Luca, success finally arrived with a formulation that was non-irritating. Now, when it comes to sun protection, one might say the Grubers have you covered.

Consumers in other countries are much more aware of UVA radiation problems; these consumers drive the market for newer and more expensive chemicals to reduce harmful ultraviolet radiation (UVA). Whereas the U.S. uses only SPF to rate what is predominantly UVB protection, Japan, Europe, and Australia use SPF along with UVA rating systems such as: critical wavelength, PFA values, and the Boot Star rating system. Dr, Gruber says, “With conventional sunscreens providing UVB coverage and little or any UVA coverage, you don’t burn; however, you’re still cooking yourself with UVA rays.”

Outside the U.S., there is as much concern about the aging and carcinogenic effects of UVA exposure as there is about the sunburn-producing UVB rays.

The Grubers’ product uses Polycrylene(CPH Innovations), a patent-protected avobenzone stabilizer and potentiator, which allows for a critical wavelength of 383nm and will last 6 hours in intense sunlight. The Grubers’ claims of superior UVA coverage are backed up by the highest critical wavelength and PFA rating in the U.S. market.

By James A. W. Rembert